


Disabled Reaction : Whisper in the Dark

by Akheloispione



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Beware of spoilers, IBS, Spoilers on "Whisper in the Dark", spoilers !
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-16 08:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21504724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akheloispione/pseuds/Akheloispione
Summary: Soldier ! Whatever the circumstances, you have to do your duty because some must fight, so that all may be free.Set of one-shots. Each chapter is a different story.
Kudos: 3





	1. Vigil Leader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laranthir heard footsteps and found himself facing his fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed to write down my reaction, to externalize or I was never going to get over it.  
>   
> ⚠ (last) WARNING : Spoilers ⚠  
> * Season 5 "The Icebrood Saga" - Episode 1 (Whisper in the Dark)  
> 

> Chapter 1 : Vigil Leader ([fr] Meneur des Veilleurs)  
>  → Linked to : The Valiant Illusion ([fr] La Vaillante Illusion) -[from]- History's small cuttings with its large axe ([fr] Petites coupes de l’Histoire avec sa grande hache)

_« I am a Grand Warmaster, Almorra's second-in-command. Should she fall, I will lead the order...but I pray to the Tree I am never needed in that role. »_  
His words resonated in Raëndaxia's ears. She could feel the burden on her shoulders. She felt relieved at this instant, because she was in a similar position.  
Between General Almorra and Marshal Trahearne, Laranthir appeared more erased as a soldier. For some, he wasn't up to the task. But Raën had never realized what would happen if... Death rang at the door of the Pact, of the Vigil.

Who would take the lead ? Who would become the leader ?  
  


* * *

  
Laranthir raised his head and turned around when he heard heavy steps entering without knocking in the room. Jhavi came in with a dark face, imbued with rigor. Just behind her, Laranthir watched his little sister come forward ; the commander as if crushed by reality. He heard news from her, through her exploits, but he hadn't seen her for so long.  
  
He got up from his desk and prepared to welcome them by taking the carafe and glasses. Suddenly, a kind of icy wind entered the room, chilled his veins, made him shiver and froze him in place.  
  
He recalled seeing a report that she was very busy at the Bjora Marches. The sylvari's brain set in motion the gears of understanding. The mesmer’s armor was sober. The norn had wear Vigil's Honor armor. The necklace with Emblem of the Vigil, which his sister had never left, sparkled like a scythe. The secondborn immediately knew that something was wrong.  
  
But never, he would have imagined that.  
  
They made a military salute before kneeling, no, prostrating themselves by announcing grimly and mournfully :  
« We came to bring you terrible information, General Laranthir of the Wild. »  
  
Laranthir felt the weight of responsibility collapse on his shoulders as the cup broke on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a version where Laranthir hasn't been simplistically dismissed, by the game, for the sake of the scenario...
>
>> I don't own anything ; All the characters belong to ArenaNet except Raëndaxia (Original female sylvari Character).


	2. No one deserve that

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Raëndaxia entered the Jora's Keep and the doors closed ; Destiny sealed the Vigil's fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠ WARNING : Spoilers ⚠  
> * Season 5 "The Icebrood Saga" - Episode 1 (Whisper in the Dark)  
> 

> Chapter 2 : No one deserve that ([fr] Personne ne mérite cela)  
>  → Linked to : The Valiant Illusion ([fr] La Vaillante Illusion) -[from]- History's small cuttings with its large axe ([fr] Petites coupes de l’Histoire avec sa grande hache)

If the defense system had not pushed her, Raëndaxia would have backed off immediately. The ground was littered with Vigil soldiers.

Between pale faces and eternally open eyes in the last moment, a moment of terror as if they had seen a ghost. Raën felt the saliva increasing in her mouth. She stepped forward and almost fell as she rolled on a head...  
The blood was throbbing down the furs of the charr. Almost all the soldiers had a gaping wound in their stomachs or backs. The asuras had been torn apart by the force of the blows. In the darkness of the room, the last flashes of the sylvari patterns shone faintly and gave a play of light.  
Reflections in their eyes, on blood and sap trails, on broken armor, on puddles, on ice.

Her belly twisted when she watched Vigil tactician at the clean wounds, with no sign of struggle, as if he had been killed in his sleep. She shivered. The corpse of Vigil crusader confirmed that they were caught unaware.  
These soldiers had died without being able to defend themselves, asleep after being awake to keep an eye on this world.  
  


* * *

  
She had been a recruit. These corpses had been recruits, like her. Sometimes even the same promotion.  
She had been a crusader. These corpses had been fully integrated into the Vigil, like her.  
She was a warmaster. These corpses had been soldiers under her orders.  
And the Vigil had joined the ranks of the Pact that Raen had commanded.  
  


* * *

  
Braham knelt on Alva's body. He looked up and saw the same expression on the Commander's face that turned his heart upside down.  
« Do you know this soldier ? » stammered the norn.  
She was frozen in front of the Vigil marksman. He had a large, deep gashes cover his body. The mesmer refrains from shaking, horrified. She knew about this kind of injury : it's the one that says there didn't even have a chance to fight back.  
« Yes, I know these soldiers. »  
_They fought with me against Zhaitan. They survived this hell. They fought alongside me against Mordremoth. They survived this hell. They fought on my side against Joko, against Kralkatorrik. Together, we healed our wounds. Together, we have faced it._  
_We held on to the same level, equal in adversity._  
  


*

  
She walked through the different rooms of the barracks. She already had blood on her hands and now her shoes were also stained with innocent and banal normalcy.  
Familiar faces danced on the cold, red slabs. The mesmer blinked and for a short time she saw their determined and smiling faces.  
From now on, there is no joy and there will be no smiles. Faces are frozen in eternal fear.  
How many people died in this buildings, in this corridors ? How many families have just been broken up ?  
And she knelt down near a soldier and with her frozen fingertips, she touched the face of her classmates. Butterflies danced around her. She offered to see something other than Death in his blind eyes. Then she closed his eyes in order to give him the rest he deserved.

She had a lot of remorse. She had many regrets. But today the quota had surpassed. She was going to crack like ice under the deaf footsteps of arbitrary justice. She was going to cry. She was going to throw up.  
After her brother's death, she had done everything to regrow the commander that she was, that she had to be, in order to create a better world and save the future. But the commander had just broken as she faced the cold, lifeless faces of those she had known in the past.  
  


* * *

  
They finally left the building : « We...found the Vigil soldiers. They're...they're all dead. »  
The pink butterflies crashed to the ground in the cold. Agonizing, trying to flap their wings one last time to try to fly away, the lepidopterans murmured as they crawled to the ground....  
_I'll find whoever did this. _  
But who cares who killed them ? The blood is still on the Pact Commander's fragile little hands. And her guilt burns like hate until it loses control and consumes the moths.__

____

The grace of her magic disappeared to leave only straight, smooth and beautiful features. The purified flows of all pureness wrapped the space in a menacing shield to protect its innocent fallen.  
She was going to find whoever did this, but the innocence had disappeared again because the blood was now staining her clothes and her body.  
She was going to find the people who did this because no one deserves it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > I don't own anything ; All the characters belong to ArenaNet except Raëndaxia (Original female sylvari Character).


	3. Die alone (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ice fortifies. Ice protects.  
> But for the moment Ice is freezing us in deep despair and Snow is swallowing up all forms of hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠ WARNING : Spoilers ⚠  
> * Season 5 "The Icebrood Saga" - Episode 1 (Whisper in the Dark)  
> 

> Chapter 3 : Die alone ([fr] Mourir seul)  
>  → Linked to : Starlight's name ([fr] Le nom de la Lumière Stellaire) -from- Record of Balance ([fr] Chronique de l'Équilibre)

A small cloud came out of Selen's mouth when she exhaled. Her breath was freezing. The ground was frosted and the walls are frozen. The ranger would never have thought that water, the element of care, support, and healing, would turn into its worst enemy.  
  
Still walking and continuing the way of the road, she tightens her coat around her.  
The only comfort in this mission was to see Kax, the Melandru's stalker who was her pet ; to see him jump in the snow and try to swallow the snowflakes. Selen was having fun with her animal's behavior. She loved to see him gamble like that. He was carefree and it was a change from his usual detached and overly suspicious look.  
To not being alone was good for the human being. Since her crows had become silent and then disappeared, Selen had been shaking abnormally. She used to give her companions space and certain freedom, but she had to admit that, there, anxiety and doubt were eating away at her.  
  


* * *

  
The wind calmed down a little when she entered a kind of cave. The human immediately stopped when she saw the sword resting against debris from the rockslide.  
The positioning of the weapon was far too ceremonial and artificial. Selen started shaking again.  
She saw the embankment right next to the sword and felt her heart die in her frozen rib cage.  
  
Her knees hit the ground when she dropped. Her fingers tore off the pebbles and then the stones until she dug up General Almorra.  
  
Her body collapsed. She called her pet.  
« Kax, come here, my big boy... » her voice slipped into hoarseness « …please... »  
The animal advanced lazily but did so despite everything. He sat next to his mistress.  
She opened her arms, tears were already flowing « I need you. »  
  
The sobs burst. The Pact Commander would have liked to salute and honor the General. But the tears didn't cry out until the blizzard fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > I don't own anything ; All the characters belong to ArenaNet except Selen (Original human Character) and Kax.


	4. Die alone (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Ice meets the Fire, water is obtained under the aspect of tears. Tears of pain and grief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters for the price of one today !  
>   
> ⚠ WARNING : Spoilers ⚠  
> * Season 5 "The Icebrood Saga" - Episode 1 (Whisper in the Dark)  
> * Path of Fire - Act 3 (Chapter "The Departing")

> Chapter 4 : Die alone ([fr] Mourir seul)  
>  → Linked to : Starlight's name ([fr] Le nom de la Lumière Stellaire) -from- Record of Balance ([fr] Chronique de l'Équilibre)

_« Everything she did... The battles she's been through... And she died alone. No warrior should die alone. »_  
Jhavi's words had the same effect as Jormag's breath.  
  
  
Yes... no one should die alone.  
  


* * *

  
Even in the snowstorm, Balthazar's fire still haunted her.  
All her efforts in the fight were in vain while the fallen god was just having fun. Selen hoped until the last moment that her guildmates would come to help her... to save her. Her duty was to remain alone and not to endanger others. But deep down in her soul, she was screaming for support, for help !  
  
People appreciate loneliness but no one wants to be isolated. No one wants to be alone, especially when you expect... a cuddle, a hug, a handshake, a pat on the back. Just a sign. Just a sign of life.  


*

Breathing decreases. Blood is flowing. Suffocate in silence when you want to scream. And finally, die alone after agonizing alone.  
  
Selen knew exactly what it felt like when you realized there was no escape. That feeling when you understand that you have given everything to the World but it will not give you anything. That fatal frustration of having sacrificed everything for the World and finally to be sacrificed on its behalf.  
No recognition.  
It’ll give you a look, but then it'll look away.  
Selen knows by heart the bitter taste that twists the soul when you no longer surprise yourself with invective. You invective you should have let this world die. This world doesn’t deserve to be saved. This world doesn't deserve you.  
  
Selen knew perfectly this feeling ; the same feeling that Almorra had, when she had her eyes fixed on death. Anger burns in Selen's heart and tears run down her cold cheeks.  
No one deserves that.  
  
Almorra didn’t deserve such a death.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to comment !  
> 
>
>>   
> I don't own anything ; All the characters belong to ArenaNet except Selen (Original human Character).


	5. A Legendary Ballad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- Ears up, Charr, there's... what is-?  
> \- Kalla's tail, what is that thing ?!  
>   
> \- Snap out of it, soldier !  
> Alas, it’s too late.  
>   
> But don't worry : you got your revenge... and the respect you deserve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠ WARNING : Spoilers ⚠  
> * Season 5 "The Icebrood Saga" - Episode 1 (Whisper in the Dark)  
> 

>   
>  Chapter 5 : A Legendary Ballad ([fr] Une Ballade Légendaire)  
>  → Linked to : Starlight's name ([fr] Le nom de la Lumière Stellaire) -[from]- Record of Balance ([fr] Chronique de l'Équilibre)

  
Selen left the Jora's Keep and returned to the Grothmar Valley. She was dazzled for a moment by the strong light and all the shimmering colors of the flowers.  
The warm air and the delicate sounds of nature filled her whole body. Her destination was clean, her objective was clear : she was going to break her eardrums on the Ballad of Soulkeeper by the charr band Metal Legion, in order to hear only her singing. To hear only her.

*

Images surfaced as Selen let herself go to the epic. Flash. Blur. Dust. Her vision was blurred as smoke filled the stage, sparks from the pyrotechnics made epileptic swirls and the delirious spectators jostled.

She closed her eyes, plunging completely into the story told with fury, imagining the life of this great warrior.  
Almorra Soulkeeper.  
She remembered how Riel spoke of Almorra ; there was courage, determination, and rage. Revenge, but most of all, life.  
She let the music take control of her mind and body. She stood motionless in the middle of the overexcited crowd, jumping and dancing.  
The Pact Commander wondered inwardly if there were any soldiers who hadn’t been inspired by the General, while her spirit wandered and began to form the pangs of the plains and deserts of the Blazeridge Steppes.

* * *

  
  
  
Almorra walked alongside her second-in-command and her troop. They marched casually on their routine mission. There was no such thing as Vigil. And it had never crossed his mind that they might exist at that moment. In the mind of the simple legionnaire, there was only her troop. A small family, but her family.  
As they moved slowly forward, Almorra watched the curve of their backs, the movement of their fur. They were all different, but they were all united. They had taken up arms together in the Fahrar. They had followed the same rhythm ; their rhythm. When it came time to choose, it was obvious to all of them. They all shared : the stories, the laughter, their fights, their scars, the good times... and the bad times.  
They all did it together, as if they were one. Like they were one soul. The name of their band made sense. They named themselves with one respiration, in one breath.  
Together, they climbed the Fahrar stairs, the hills, and the grade. Step after step. They pushed boundaries, moved mountains.  
  
  


*

The minutes of the patrol lengthened as they walked up the land east of Ascalon.  
From that moment on, Almorra was never the same.  
She felt a strange feeling, crossing her spine, plunging to the depths of her being and bristling her hair straight up to the sky.  
Harthog Soulslasher was frozen in terror. And she didn't immediately understand, as he was the bravest : after all, charr knew no fear. Didn't they ?  
Earthquakes shook the soil and the troop's skin. An immense shadow invaded the sky and soon darkness seeped into her heart.  
Their faces darkened before they were devastated by the horror ; Kralkatorrik flew southward in black clouds streaked with purple lightning. The earth rose up, distorting the landscape and forming a makeshift shelter while the rest was corrupted by its passage.

But fortune smiles on no one on this day.

She reached out her paw to Harthog I order to bring him out of his unparalleled amazement and get another reaction. The only thing she got in response was supernatural crystal transparency. Almorra's ears tickled with the cries of pain of her comrades as crystal pierced them from within and slowly they transformed.  
Her friends, her soldiers twisted in agony as the corruption spread over them, into their hearts, their minds... their souls. Her companions had become twisted and deformed moving glass statues.  
In a strange reflex, she drew her sword and did her duty. The tinkling of the broken crystal resonated to break the last piece of reason that remained in Almorra.  
She slaughtered her companions who had become stigmatized servants, tearing each other apart. Instead of dying, she had the heartbreaking task of slaughtering her troop, her family. She slaughtered them all.

At her feet, there was a pile of pieces scattered among the grains of sand. Above her, flew the ancestral dragon in its storm of amethyst and kunzite shards.

*

Tucked into a small scorched and gutted cavern, she was mostly... alone, crushed by a power she could neither hold nor surpass. She was alone, with no brother and no sister at her side.

Almorra Soulkeeper was alone and there were no souls around.  
The Soul troop was now only stories to be told to each other.

In that purple isolation as far as the eye could see, in that loneliness, she felt something filling her heart, slowly but surely.

Her lips were curled up. She was a gladium, useless charr, disowned. But it was a lie. She was isolating herself in this idea, refusing to reach out for a hand. She locked herself in depression.  
She could have remained in that devouring darkness, but the vengeance that consumed her was more powerful than the shadows.

* * *

  
  
  
In this void, she clung to a small light and promised to gather the bravest soldiers together. To make people unite to win. Such an enemy could not be met in her corner. She hoped it would be enough to make this small flame of hope grow. She swore an oath. Vow of light. Vow of victory.  
That oath had a name : the Vigil.  
It took her a long time to come to her senses, to come out of her vengeful blindness. But she succeeded with the help of unlikely allies.  
At first, it was only a small group, but where she had traveled across Tyria, others had joined her cause.  
She fought because she could. She still could. She had then created one of the most powerful organizations. Because they were unshakeable. Because they would destroy the dragons before they destroyed us. Because they were guarding… keeping.  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Almorra had faced many enemies, many defeats and many victories. But she hadn’t forgotten. And she wouldn’t run away from it. She had called to arms and had answered the call against Kralkatorrik. She would overcome her loss. She had faced the beast once again and she had obtained justice.  
Every soldier, every living being -asura, charr, human, norn, sylvari, grawl, hylek, ogre, quaggan, skritt- was her new troop, but no one was unaware of the people's names from this family that was called Soul.  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
She raised her head defiantly. The cold didn’t reach her.  
With her own sword, she had torn her second one to pieces when he wanted to tear her apart, even though he had a decapitated head and a crystal body. It wasn’t the sons of Svanir who would frighten her.  
She tightened her grip on her sword, wounded but not out of harm's way, wounded but not dead, she advanced towards the servants of Jormag and their miserable ambush. After all, she was Almorra Soulkeeper, General of the Vigil and a dragonslayer.  
  
  


*

Selen knew she'd fought to the bitter end. Until her last breath. She'd survived where others hadn't. She had stood upright where others had not. She never gave up. Not in the face of the many enemies who stood in her way. Not before the Destroyer. Not before Kralkatorrik. Thirteen years earlier. Now. She had always stood.

* * *

  
  
  
Selen heard nothing but the tinkling of something breaking like crystal, ice or bone. The music was gone. History had been left with a heavy burden of inheritance. _The Pact Commander Selen never knew that she hadn’t only saved Tyria in her battles : she had also saved Almorra's soul._  
She opened her eyes when a force brought her back to her feet. She came back to reality when a voice spoke to her, silencing the creaking bones and splinters.  
  
« Well, how are you, little human ? » asked the vocalist Varus, unaware that he was speaking to the Commander.  
  
« I am well. » She broke free from his grip and offered him a human smile that pierced the heart of the charr « I just got carried away in a story that has become a legend. »

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > I don't own anything ; All the characters belong to ArenaNet except Selen (Original human Character).
> 
> While I was writing, I was looking for information on Almorra’ story... and I came across [THIS](https://twitter.com/WhiteWolfBurrow/status/1222762831466188800) : _"Shattered Legacy"_ by **Changer The Elder**.  
> I put his work here because he's exceptional and a hundred times more talented than me. Go see his wonderful tribute by this extraordinary artist ! 


End file.
